IMPINGEMENTS IN CAPITALIST ECONOMY
Decoding an Obscure Factor in Ethical Analysis
Keywords:
impingements, economic externalities, care and solidarity, rational/affectional principlesAbstract
Capitalism is based on the core principles of private property/self-interest, capital/profit-making and labour, and liberal democracy. Such principles have generated standard economic practices; fields for management, production, and consumption and durable institutions. Through time, these practices, fields, and institutions have impinged on people’s homes, neighbourhood, villages, and nations. Using the theory of impingements, this study uncovers the insidious ways capitalism has impacted on life and points out the analytic potential of impingements in the following: a) reconnecting the private-public disconnect in a world pervaded by capitalism; b) internalizing what has been considered as externalities by economics; c) tracing the psycho-neurological genesis of impingements; and d) tracking down the interlocking development of capitalist institutions and persons. These approaches are meant to aid and expand the ethical evaluation of capitalist actions and structures, leading toward proposals for the ethical solutions to some problems unearthed by the concept of impingements.
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